The primary goal of a messaging program is to develop credible content that quickly educates your target market and establishes your company as a market leader, and as a consequence generates a constant stream of customer enquiries and sales. Therefore, a well planned, focused, and carefully executed messaging program is an invaluable tool for influencing your target market and building relationships with key industry players.
Getting Started
Once you have defined your target market, you must effectively communicate to them your company's value proposition. Your value proposition should be a clear and succinct description of how your product or service solves their problem better than any other available option.
The value proposition, or positioning statement, is the foundation for developing additional strategic messages to appeal to prospects at each stage in the customer lifecycle, specific vertical markets and industry pundits. Strategic development of these core messages should be considered focused education, and involves building a knowledge base about your category, company, and products.
Once your messaging is developed, a critical component of your program is to communicate and share external messaging with your internal team. This ensures that employees speak in "one voice" for building message continuity in both internal and external communications.
Following these guidelines is one way for your company to create effective messaging that is easily understood both internally and externally and is also meaningful to your target market:
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Develop a concise, and well-practiced description about your company
Develop a clear and concise presentation of your company's value proposition, business model, company solution, marketing strategy, and competition that can be delivered in a few minutes, or the duration of "an elevator ride". Ensure that these concepts are consistently articulated throughout the organization.
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Develop effective visual and verbal branding that synthesizes your positioning
Develop a brand that reflects your positioning statement, applies to every aspect of your company, and is applied diligently and consistently across every point of communication and contact. The brand you permeate into the marketplace is a permanent, long-term image of how you will be perceived in the minds of your target audience and market segments.
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Develop effective communication campaigns to optimize brand exposure and spread your message
Define your main messaging objectives and integrate them into your overall marketing communications program. Create a focused program of in-depth, personal communication by varying and tailoring your core messages, medium, and distribution schedule according to the target markets you wish to reach. Distribute your content through three major channels: online, in print and through tailored presentations.
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Leverage your expertise and customer success to communicate your message and build credibility
Develop informative and credible collateral to help your target audience understand how your product or service has solved a critical problem in the market. These publications should be designed to help educate your market about your company and products while building your company's reputation as an industry expert and thought leader. Published collateral may include brochures, white papers, industry briefs, case studies, and newsletters.
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Don't sabotage your messaging efforts by constantly reinventing your value proposition
If you've done your homework and defined a defensible target market, then your messaging will clearly articulate a solution that people or organizations will want to buy. The point to remember is that you will tire of your messaging long before your audiences will. Trust the research and strategic analysis that you've done and only adjust messaging as a response to major events such as changing market conditions or the addition of new verticals to your target markets.
